Birth and Breath

Birth and breathing are strongly connected.

Birth is the step from unity with the mother to our independent existence. For more than 9 months we already live in the womb of the mother, but it is only after birth that we start to breathe ourselves. This experience is one of the building blocks of our psyche. If this transition happens in a friendly and loving way, life becomes a friendly place, same as the womb of the mother. The mother expands, and turns into mother earth. If birth happens in an unfriendly, rough way, with forcing the breathing to start fast, or with separation from the mother after birth, the baby goes into shock, and the world becomes an unfriendly, even hostile place where one has to exert oneself, has to survive, has to repress feelings, and has to obey the rules.

After birth the body needs some time to open the lungs, to get ready for breathing. If the baby is pushed to breathe before the body is ready, it is painful to breathe. And if pain is part of the beginning of breathing it gets difficult to have a positive connection with ones breathing. The natural thing to happen for the baby after birth is body contact and merging with the mother. The baby needs a smooth transition in order to gradually expand and develop in a healthy way.

Krishnamurti describes this very beautifully in his autobiography, where he talks about his birth in the South of India, as a child of simple people. Mother and child stayed in a dark room for 10 days. When the child was not on the body of the mother it was kept swinging in a piece of cloth hanging from the ceiling for all this time. Only after 10 days gradually light was allowed to enter the room. What a care for a gentle transition into this world!

Breathwork can be very helpful to get in touch with old hidden feelings, which we could not face when they happened, but which we carry along on the inside till now, limiting our aliveness, joy, trust and relaxation. With breath work we can get into contact with these feelings, express them, release them and find again a positive way of relating with our body. We again learn how to create energy, and how to release energy. The cycle of life, which consists of charging, expressing and relaxing can again flow freely. Breathing can become your path of relaxation, aliveness, joy and letting go of the past

This course is recommended as introduction to the Breath of Existence Training